While the business aviation industry greets each morsel of positive economic news with cautious optimism, continuing financial indecision made 2012 another depressed year for turbine aircraft deliveries, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), which released its year-end delivery totals last month. Last year general aviation reached a milestone of sorts, according to GAMA chairman Brad Mottier. For the first time, he noted, shipments to North American buyers in all three airplane segments–jets, turboprops and pistons–dipped to 50 percent. “This signifies the more global nature of GA sales as reflected in our member companies, which are expanding their operations globally to better manage and service their products,” he told the audience.
While 2012 saw a modest increase in overall aircraft shipments, the lower-end non-pressurized utility turboprop segment accounted for all of the gains, as overall billings decreased by nearly one percent, from $19 billion to $18.9 billion. The business jet and pressurized turboprop segments saw a year-over-year decrease of approximately 4 percent. “While the 2012 shipment and billing data were mixed, the numbers don’t reflect the amount of development work in progress in general aviation,” said Mottier, GE Aviation’s vice president and general manager for business and general aviation. “The general aviation segment is poised for resurgence in the next few years as these new technologies achieve certification and enter the market.”
